SEPARATIONS

Hardship for our families

A great hardship suffered by many British families working in India, was the long separations they had to endure. Children had to be sent home to boarding school in England and Justine had a preparatory nine month term at a convent school in Darjeeling at the age of six, where she was subjected to harsh discipline, as was also the case where she spent five years without any realtves or friends, in the boarding school in England.

Darjeeling

'I couldn’t get to sleep because of the pain across my knuckles. In the darkness, I suddenly became aware of someone bending over me. It was Miss Swanson –I thought she might have come to apologise for hitting me, but instead she frightened me by threatening me.-- 'Don’t you dare tell anyone how you got those marks on your hands, or it’ll be the worse for you!'

Malvern

'For talking after 'Lights out' I was banished for a whole week to a bed in the attic, where I was lonely, cold and frightened by scratching noises, which I thought were rats, so it was difficult to get to sleep. On the third night, I suddenly felt a heavy weight on my legs. It was Marmalade, the school cat, who had found me and came to keep me company. For the rest of the week, he came to sleep on my bed every night and I found him a great comfort.'